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Lafayette imposes building permit moratorium

Officials to create program to disburse 1,200 permits over next six years

By John Aguilar Camera Staff Writer

Posted:
01/07/2013 09:54:01 PM MST

Updated:
01/07/2013 09:54:49 PM MST

Lafayette building permits

2006 -- 133

2007 -- 33

2008 -- 191

2009 -- 109

2010 -- 35

2011 -- 322*

2012 -- 365

*includes 74 units at Josephine Commons and 45 units at Affinity that are exempt from the growth management initiative

Lafayette's elected leaders placed a four-month moratorium Monday on accepting applications for residential building permits, giving the city time to determine the right number of new homes to be constructed each year.

The decision comes in the wake of voters' approval of Ballot Question 2B in November, which extended the city's 17-year-old growth management initiative for another six years.

The initiative, which limits the number of residential permits the city gives to builders to 1,200 through 2018, was amended at the ballot box to allow the city for the first time to decide how many permits to grant on a year-to-year basis rather than being locked into a limit of 200 annually.

"Maybe we want to use 1,200 in the first two years or maybe we want to hold some back to use in later years," Planning Director Phillip Patterson told the City Council on Monday night. "The great thing about the cap is it's not use-it-or-lose-it."

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Patterson said once the planning staff establishes a process for allocating residential permits over the next six years, the council could amend the resolution passed Monday so that permits could be issued as soon as the moratorium expires. He said there are not any residential applications now in the pipeline.

Lafayette has seen several residential projects recently sprout from the ground, including the 250-unit Prana apartment building near Exempla Good Samaritan Medical Center and 74 units for senior citizens at Josephine Commons.

Another 250 apartment units are destined for the south side of town, while the 120-unit Affinity at Lafayette, another residential project for seniors, just opened across Baseline Road from the King Soopers. Meanwhile, Coal Creek Village North is set to bring 65 duplexes and single-family homes to the city over the next few years.

Lafayette has a buildout population goal in its comprehensive plan of 30,000 to 35,000 residents.

City spokeswoman Debbie Wilmot said the annual flexibility in permit allocation that voters granted the city now makes Lafayette's growth management strategy far more responsive to the ever-changing real estate market.

"It will set the standard for moving forward with what residents intended us to do with the growth management plan and to have the flexibility to change with the market," she said. "It's going to be a balancing act of encouraging these good projects to come in while keeping an ample supply of permits in storage for future years."

Lafayette Councilwoman Alexandra Lynch welcomed the moratorium as a chance for the city to take the time to figure out its housing picture over the next half dozen years.

"Giving special attention to the process will make this a better system than what we had," she said.

Voters first passed the growth management initiative in 1995, which was designed to hold the city's annual growth rate to 3 percent. Voters extended it in 2001 and 2007.

Lisa Hefling, co-owner of Lafayette-based Crown Construction Inc., said in a county that is "notorious for making things difficult" for homebuilders, Lafayette's new approach takes into account the way the real estate market actually works.

Crown Construction specializes in home remodeling work.

"I think it's fantastic for them to evaluate it year by year," Hefling said. "It's great that Lafayette is being growth-minded and consumer-conscious."

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